mobilization of the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea for maneuvers
shut off the German Grand Fleet from raiding the Channel. There was
nothing to criticize in the manner in which the Expeditionary Army
was thrown into France. Its equipment was ready and in all details
fully worthy of German military organization. From arms to boots--the
latter not long since a scandal of shoddy workmanship--only the
best material and skill had been accepted. Its transport proved
the genius of Lord Kitchener in that brand of military service.
The railways leading to the ports of embarkation, together with
passenger steamships--some of them familiar in American ports--were
commandeered as early as the 4th of August.

During the night of August 7, 1914, train after train filled with
troops steamed toward Southampton, and some other south-coast ports.
Complements were also embarked at Dublin, Avonmouth, and the Bristol
Channel. In the middle of the night citizens of small towns along
the route were awakened by the unceasing rumble of trains. They
had no conception of its import. They did not even realize that
war had actually burst upon the serenity of their peaceful lives.
Each transport vessel was placed in command of a naval officer,
and guarded in its passage across the channel by light cruisers and
torpedo destroyers. The transport of the whole Expeditionary Army
was completed within ten days, without the loss of a man and with
a precision worthy of all military commendation. But such secrecy
was maintained that the British public remained in ignorance of its
passage until successfully accomplished. American correspondents,
however, were not yet strictly censored, so that their papers published
news of it on August 9.

On Sunday, August 9, 1914, two British transports were observed